Unhappy with math teaching in early elementary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't get any better.

The whole afterschool tutoring thing around here wouldnt exist otherwise to the degree it does.

I don’t really want to send my daughter to this. She actually asked me to send her to kumon today. I guess a few kids in her class go there.

[Anonymous]

Ugg we went to the Kindergarten open house at Churchill and I was deeply disturbed walking through the hallways peering into the classrooms seeing little 1st graders zonked in front of their laptops with headphones. Changing course and taking them to a well regarded Catholic school in Tyson’s. I want worksheets, textbooks, writing and teachers who want to teach in the way that they feel is suited

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sadly, if your child is going to do well in FCPS, a lot of their education falls on you. You need to reinforce what they are learning (even if you have to educate yourself in what they are doing at the same time) at home, either after school or dinner, whatever works for your family. If you want pencil to paper you will have to do that on your own. The push for the online programs is real and schools are now graded/evaluated on them.

Children being tutored has sadly become the norm.

Maybe it depends on the school. None of my kids were tutored in math, and they excelled at it. I have no objection to ST Math because it helps the kids get the repetition they need to learn their math facts. There are so many resources FCPS (or at least, our school) offers to help children learn math. My son loved watching the video demonstrations on how to solve a problems, and his teacher provided "how to" sheets online. Just because YOU had textbooks doesn't mean kids today need them. All of my kids have done just fine without them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sadly, if your child is going to do well in FCPS, a lot of their education falls on you. You need to reinforce what they are learning (even if you have to educate yourself in what they are doing at the same time) at home, either after school or dinner, whatever works for your family. If you want pencil to paper you will have to do that on your own. The push for the online programs is real and schools are now graded/evaluated on them.

Children being tutored has sadly become the norm.

Maybe it depends on the school. None of my kids were tutored in math, and they excelled at it. I have no objection to ST Math because it helps the kids get the repetition they need to learn their math facts. There are so many resources FCPS (or at least, our school) offers to help children learn math. My son loved watching the video demonstrations on how to solve a problems, and his teacher provided "how to" sheets online. Just because YOU had textbooks doesn't mean kids today need them. All of my kids have done just fine without them.

What elementary grade are your kids this year?

[Anonymous]

These generalization posts drive me crazy. Everything about FCPS caries by school and teacher. You will have teachers who are awesome math teachers and some who aren’t great. You will have some who force ST Math and others who don’t. I guess the gist is math instruction can be great or poor in FCPS. It is not just one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These generalization posts drive me crazy. Everything about FCPS caries by school and teacher. You will have teachers who are awesome math teachers and some who aren’t great. You will have some who force ST Math and others who don’t. I guess the gist is math instruction can be great or poor in FCPS. It is not just one.

This is very true, but the county push to use the slide decks and ST Math is real. The fact that some teachers ignore it is just a sign of a good teacher, same with whether or not administration lets them.

[Anonymous]

Since it is so teacher/grade/school dependent, your approach will need to change year to year and child to child. However, one thing remains true from my experience: have your kids learn age-appropriate math facts using whatever method works. Having quick recall helps with higher math, logic, visual math. Don't let the multiplication tables be the obstacle in your kid's math journey. FYI, I have now 10th and 8th graders who did a mix of public and private school. Also did one year of Kumon, one year of AOPS, and some summertime hours doing Khan Academy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When you've talked with your child's teacher and asked, what have they said?

She said math instruction really worked much better when they had paper textbooks…

[Anonymous]

Workbook for you, but pen and pencil for the child.
Write by hand for them on math paper. If you have a whiteboard at home would be good too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These generalization posts drive me crazy. Everything about FCPS caries by school and teacher. You will have teachers who are awesome math teachers and some who aren’t great. You will have some who force ST Math and others who don’t. I guess the gist is math instruction can be great or poor in FCPS. It is not just one.

This is very true, but the county push to use the slide decks and ST Math is real. The fact that some teachers ignore it is just a sign of a good teacher, same with whether or not administration lets them.

My students have not used ST Math since 2021. They hated it and they were getting nothing from it. But I also teach AAP so my admin hasn’t given me any push. My team uses it sparingly. I also do not need to use county slidedecks. If you are a teacher with admin pressuring you to use these please consider finding a school that respects your professional judgement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't get any better.

The whole afterschool tutoring thing around here wouldnt exist otherwise to the degree it does.

I don’t really want to send my daughter to this. She actually asked me to send her to kumon today. I guess a few kids in her class go there.

Please let her at least try it, unless it is an actual choice between Kumon and having food on the table.

Probably many of her friends are going, and the FCPS teaching in ES is so miserably poor that she almost certainly would benefit from reinforcement. If you do not do that, then at least buy the Kumon brand math workbooks at B&N and have her do those with you at home (even if your role is more about keeping her company than instruction)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These generalization posts drive me crazy. Everything about FCPS caries by school and teacher. You will have teachers who are awesome math teachers and some who aren’t great. You will have some who force ST Math and others who don’t. I guess the gist is math instruction can be great or poor in FCPS. It is not just one.

At some ESs, the school administration (e.g., principal) really does box teachers in to only use the prescribed slide decks, technology, and other crap. At those schools, a teacher who selected materials suitable for the actual class will be rated poorly and otherwise penalized. Yes, that is poor quality administration, but short of moving house there is not a lot parents can do about that if it is at their local FCPS elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These generalization posts drive me crazy. Everything about FCPS caries by school and teacher. You will have teachers who are awesome math teachers and some who aren’t great. You will have some who force ST Math and others who don’t. I guess the gist is math instruction can be great or poor in FCPS. It is not just one.

This is very true, but the county push to use the slide decks and ST Math is real. The fact that some teachers ignore it is just a sign of a good teacher, same with whether or not administration lets them.

My students have not used ST Math since 2021. They hated it and they were getting nothing from it. But I also teach AAP so my admin hasn’t given me any push. My team uses it sparingly. I also do not need to use county slidedecks. If you are a teacher with admin pressuring you to use these please consider finding a school that respects your professional judgement.

My kid's grade teacher gave them one of the slide deck assignments some "instructional coach" at Gatehouse had put together, knowing it was bad, then had the students rate them to prove her point. Yes, at our school it's so bad that the teachers decided to use the students to push back against the boxing in and mandates. This is under a relatively new principal. It wasn't like it under the principal before this one.

Since I'm not a teacher and we don't want to vote with our feet by moving, we're voting with our feet by going private.

[Anonymous]

Keep letting your kids have cell phones.

Then they grow up and use it to text their friends to meet up in hidden places or bathrooms at school.

**

Math should be. blended with online and paper resources.

Make sure your child grows up to be responsible and dedicated to doing their work.

At high school, kids don't bother doing homework on paper or online. So somewhere in middle school they already picked up bad habits.

As a parent, don't let your kids fool you. Math is not a spectator sport so expect homework all the time.

[Anonymous]

I am a teacher who moved to the area after teaching at a school with a very strong math program. I worked at FCPS for one year (1) before deciding that I could not do it anymore. What FCPS calls a “curriculum” was actually just loosely thrown together guidance with no real structure whatsoever. I gave up teaching and now just tutor my own kids after school everyday. It’s pretty shocking what I am having to teach them. For example, DC did not know how to use a number line to find the difference between two numbers, or how to use base 10 blocks to model 3 digit subtraction with borrowing. This is pretty basic stuff.